In the petrochemical industry, process equipment and vessels can require cleaning to remove deposits or buildup on their interior surfaces. Cleaning vessels of deposits often requires shutting down the associated production line and at least partial disassembly of the vessel being cleaned.
Often a pressurized and heated fluid stream is injected into the vessel to dissolve or dislodge the deposits from the solid interior surfaces of the vessel. For example, spraying a pressurized liquid into a vessel at pressures above 10,000 psi is referred to as hydroblasting. In a typical hydroblasting operation, a heat exchanger or other process vessel is open at both ends. An operator operates a lance at the proximal end to apply high pressure liquid to the interior of the heat exchanger such that the fluid effluent, usually still under some pressure, emerges from the opposite, distal end.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,753,090, which was invented by the present inventor, discloses a device for containing the outflow of waste material from the distal end vessel during by hydroblasting or similar pressurized fluid jet process. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/220,615, which was invented by the present inventor, discloses a trough-shaped container for the operator end of a vessel cleaned by spray cleaning.